Welsh Journals

Search over 450 titles and 1.2 million pages

knows his job, as some of those wretched Pur- itans of the last century did, even in spite of their style With regard to the future, it is difficult to fort- shadow any particular development. In poetry, the chances of the long poem seem to be waning. Lyricism seems to be the prevailing lorm. In IN this retrospect I should like to write as a candid friend. So far as I can judge, we stand definitely to the good since 1914 in only two respects. The first is that the stipends of teachers from the infant school to the University, have been put upon a more satisfactory basis. This statement may seem to have an unpleasant mercenary flavour. That cannot be avoided. And if it had meant no more than that the teachers of Wales had received a "rise in their salary" it would have found no place in this sur- vey. But it has much more significance than that. The raising of the economic standing of the whole profession must be regarded as a matter of sup- reme national importance. In the long run, it means that men and women of quality, who might otherwise have been lost to the educational service of the country, will be attracted to the ranks. We must concede, of course, that it may take some decades before this result can be capable of com- plete proof. But that is ever the way of educa- tional reforms-they move in an unhurried way their wonders to perform. So this should not prevent us from basing, upon this simple action, legitimate hopes for a better future for the quality of Welsh education. Already, it gives one an eerie feeling to try to visualize what would have been the present state of our elementary and sec- ondary schools or our university colleges if sal- aries had just remained where they stood at the time when the "Welsh Outlook" made its first appearance. For example, in that first number we were informed that the salaries for certificated teachers (including heads and assistants) in one of our Welsh Counties stood at £ 107 4s. Od. for men and £ 83 8s. Od. for women. This, therefore, is one of the long range reforms that must stand to the credit of the past twenty years. We must, however, not omit to put it on record that the initiative in this matter did not come from our Welsh Local Authorities. Some of them, in fact, had to be forced against their will to adopt the new scales. On the other hand, it has also to prose there is a more hopeful outlook. But with regard to all forms of literature, we are probably not going to do much until we have a fresh awakening ol some kind. a new interest in life, which will enable humanity once more to escape irom the death-trap of mechanized materialism. EDUCATION by Sir Percy E. Watkins be stated that some of the South Wales Authorities were already remunerating their teachers up to and, in one or two cases, even beyond the limits of the new scales. All this reminds me of the unpleasant truth that unfortunately there exists to-day little or no semblance of a united "Welsh" standpoint on educational matters, especially perhaps where finance is concerned. Each Authority likes to take it own course. This fact has been established on numerous occasions during the past twenty years. often to the detriment of a "national" advance. We have forgotten the lead given to us during the preceding twenty years by our more enlightened fathers, who definitely placed national interests above county interests. To-day, in cases where local opinion differs from national policies, the former tends to prevail, or at least to make itself so troublesome that any general national progress is impeded. We have seen this in connection with the ques- tion of uniform grants by local authorities to the University whereas forty years ago Wales solved this problem in relation to the Central Welsh Board by deciding in favour of making such grants statutory and compulsory. We have seen it in the growing restiveness of the university colleges in their attitude towards the University itself and its various councils and boards whereas forty years ago our fathers instituted the University as an em- bodiment of a "national" view. We saw it last year in the struggle over Circular 1421. The local leaders of the opposition to the Government pro- posals then sought the co-operation of our na- tional bodies in the hope that their prestige might add weight to more local considerations. But, alas, when the crucial moment came and a "na- tional" alternative to the proposals was asked for, our leaders suddenly realized that they had not produced one, or even thought of one. There was to all appearance a wide unanimity in criticism on that occasion, but this result was ob- viously obtained by the device of adding up in one sum all the criticisms voiced in any quarters, with-